Retail-EBOM-v4 WEc4: Water metering1-2 points

LEEDuser expert

Ben Stanley

WSP - Built Ecology
Senior Sustainability Manager

SPECIAL REPORT

LEEDuser’s viewpoint

Frank advice from LEED experts

LEED is changing all the time, and every project is unique. Even seasoned professionals can miss a critical detail and lose a credit or even a prerequisite at the last minute. Our expert advice guides our LEEDuser Premium members and saves you valuable time.

Intent

To support water management and identify opportunities for additional water savings by tracking water consumption.

Requirements

Establishment

Establish permanently installed meters; 1 point for two water subsystems, 2 points for four or more water subsystems:

Irrigation. Meter water systems serving at least 80% of the irrigated landscaped area. Calculate the percentage of irrigated landscape area as the total metered irrigated landscape area divided by the total irrigated landscape area. Landscape areas fully covered with xeriscaping or native vegetation that requires no routine irrigation may be excluded from the calculation.

Indoor plumbing fixtures and fittings. Meter water systems serving at least 80% of the indoor plumbing fixtures and fittings listed in WE Prerequisite Indoor Water-Use Reduction, either directly or by deducting all other measured water use from the measured total water consumption of the building and grounds,

Cooling towers. Meter replacement water use of all cooling towers serving the facility.

Domestic hot water. Meter water use of at least 80% of the installed domestic hot water heating capacity (including both tanks and on-demand heaters).

Other process water. Meter at least 80% of expected daily water consumption for process end uses, such as humidifiers, dishwashers, clothes washers, and pools.

Performance

All meters, including whole-building meter, must be recorded at least weekly and used in a regular analysis of time trends.

Meters must be calibrated within the manufacturer’s recommended interval if the building owner, management organization, or tenant owns the meter. Meters owned by third parties (e.g., utilities or governments) are exempt.

Commit to sharing with USGBC the resulting water usage data for a five-year period beginning on the date the project accepts LEED certification.

Cost estimates for this credit

On each BD+C v4 credit, LEEDuser offers the wisdom of a team of architects, engineers, cost estimators, and LEED experts with hundreds of LEED projects between then. They analyzed the sustainable design strategies associated with each LEED credit, but also to assign actual costs to those strategies.

Our tab contains overall cost guidance, notes on what “soft costs” to expect, and a strategy-by-strategy breakdown of what to consider and what it might cost, in percentage premiums, actual costs, or both.

The motherlode of cheat sheets

LEEDuser’s Documentation Toolkit is loaded with calculators to help assess credit compliance, tracking spreadsheets for materials, sample templates to help guide your narratives and LEED Online submissions, and examples of actual submissions from certified LEED projects for you to check your work against. To get your plaque, start with the right toolkit.

LEEDuser expert

Ben Stanley

Get the inside scoop

Our editors have written a detailed analysis of nearly every LEED credit, and LEEDuser premium members get full access. We’ll tell you whether the credit is easy to accomplish or better left alone, and we provide insider tips on how to document it successfully.

Intent

To support water management and identify opportunities for additional water savings by tracking water consumption.

Requirements

Establishment

Establish permanently installed meters; 1 point for two water subsystems, 2 points for four or more water subsystems:

Irrigation. Meter water systems serving at least 80% of the irrigated landscaped area. Calculate the percentage of irrigated landscape area as the total metered irrigated landscape area divided by the total irrigated landscape area. Landscape areas fully covered with xeriscaping or native vegetation that requires no routine irrigation may be excluded from the calculation.

Indoor plumbing fixtures and fittings. Meter water systems serving at least 80% of the indoor plumbing fixtures and fittings listed in WE Prerequisite Indoor Water-Use Reduction, either directly or by deducting all other measured water use from the measured total water consumption of the building and grounds,

Cooling towers. Meter replacement water use of all cooling towers serving the facility.

Domestic hot water. Meter water use of at least 80% of the installed domestic hot water heating capacity (including both tanks and on-demand heaters).

Other process water. Meter at least 80% of expected daily water consumption for process end uses, such as humidifiers, dishwashers, clothes washers, and pools.

Performance

All meters, including whole-building meter, must be recorded at least weekly and used in a regular analysis of time trends.

Meters must be calibrated within the manufacturer’s recommended interval if the building owner, management organization, or tenant owns the meter. Meters owned by third parties (e.g., utilities or governments) are exempt.

Commit to sharing with USGBC the resulting water usage data for a five-year period beginning on the date the project accepts LEED certification.